Stephen Jones snubs Richie McCaw in greatest Test captains list

Veteran journalist Stephen Jones and former England pivot Stuart Barnes were tasked with selecting their list of the ten greatest Test captains in their Sunday Times story.

Barnes went with Richie McCaw has his top pick while Stephen Jones – a staunch critic of the All Blacks – excluded the game's most capped player and the only captain to win the Rugby World Cup all together making Alun-Wyn Jones his pick.

The pair also snubbed the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rory Best and Paul O'Connell with no Irishman featuring on either list.

Both writers were granted a line in which they could comment on his colleague’s list with both writers taking the opportunity to highlight McCaw's inclusion and exclusion of McCaw.

Jones on Barnes: My colleague Barnes has fallen into the trap of assuming that All Black victories in the McCaw era were down to a captain when in fact, my late grandmother could have led them to the same record. By the way, Stuart, Lawrence is looking for you.

Barnes on Jones: Steve has made especial room for a mad (if magnificent) Marlon Brando interpretation of Mr Kurtz but cannot accommodate Richie McCaw, the most successful test captain in modern times, in his list of ten great skippers. Fair enough, I ignored the legend that is Willie John...then again so did Mr Jones.

Stuart Barnes’ top 10 test captains: 1 Richie McCaw (NZ), 2 Martin Johnson (England), 3 Jacques Fouroux (France), 4 Siya Kolisi (South Africa), 5 Sean Fitzpatrick (NZ), 6 Jean-Pierre Rives (France), 7 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), 8 Andrew Slack (Australia), 9 Agustín Pichot (Argentina), 10 Maro Itoje (England)

Stephen Jones’ top 10 test captains: 1 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), 2 John Dawes (Wales), 3 Martin Johnson (England), 4 Sean Fitzpatrick, 5 Lawrence Dallaglio (England), 6 Siya Kolisi (South Africa), 7 Agustín Pichot (Argentina), 8 John Eales (Australia), 9 Thierry Dusautoir (France), 10 Haralambie Dumitras (Romania)